This makes sense because God’s Word as well as God’s Love and His attributes ultimately are beyond our comprehension. We only “understand” and “feel” as long as our souls allow us to. Our Sages say that the soul is to our body as the Creator is to the world, meaning that the soul makes us aware of Him in the body as God makes the world aware of His Presence. This means that the soul is the place of the body, and God is the place of the world; and neither the body nor the world is the place of the soul or the place of God. We understand this principle by making ourselves aware that our mission as individuals (bodies) and as collective (world) is to reveal Love as God’s Presence in our lives and in our surroundings, because He is our Essence, and our sustenance, and our life.

In the last book of the Torah, Devarim (Things, Sayings) there is a repetition of many of the Commandments already given and reiterated in the previous four books, and also prophecies that have been fulfilled throughout our Jewish history. Let’s reflect on some of these revisions: “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. Turn and journey, and come to the mountain of the Amorites and to all its neighboring places, in the plain, on the mountain, and in the lowland, and in the south and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and the Lebanon, until the great river, the Euphrates River.” (Deuteronomy 1:6-7) In this two verses we are reminded again that once we dwell long enough in God’s Love, under His care, protection and guidance as the permanent awareness of His Presence in our lives, we must pour this awareness into all levels and dimensions of consciousness to be able to “settle” in the Promised Land, where we live in Love’s ways and attributes.

These levels and dimensions are the higher knowledge of loving kindness and its manifestations (“mountains”), of the emotions and passions (“plains”), of our instincts (“the lowland”), of the ways (south, north, east, west, up and down) where we direct our thoughts (“the sea”), of how we subjugate, control and direct our negative emotions (“the Canaanite nations), of how we consecrate our duties and deeds in life (“the Lebanon” as an additional symbol of the Tabernacle or Temple), and of the flow of our individual living identity (“rivers”), as the premises to live a life in the plentitude of Love: “And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hand(s) and brought it down to us, brought us back word, and said, ‘The land the Lord, our God, is giving us is good.'” (1:25) simply because life, in Love’s ways and attributes, is always good.

Again, we are also reminded to be bear in mind that our highest knowledge of the Creator (represented by Moses, our teacher) is indeed our true guide, but it needs the remaining positive traits and aspects of consciousness (the tribes of Israel) in order to fully accomplish our mission to reveal (for us and for the nations) God’s Love in His Creation: “How can I bear your trouble, your burden, and your strife all by myself? Prepare for yourselves wise and understanding men, known among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” (1:12-13) and this highest knowledge of Love as our Essence can elevate our entire consciousness to be able to reveal Him in our lives and in the world: “And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to these two kings.’ So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms through which you will pass. Do not fear them, for it is the Lord, your God, who is fighting for you.” (3:21-22)

Here we learn that Joshua and Moses represent the same awareness for us as individuals and as a Nation. Once we are aware (we “see”) that God’s Love is our Creator, our life and our sustenance, we can also redirect our thoughts, emotions, passions and instincts, through which we pass when we manifest who we are and what we do. In this “passing through” we do not have to be afraid of falling into negative emotions and lower passions, because Love is paving the way, filling the roughness of our consciousness with His attributes. This is how Love “fights” for us when we make the choice to let Him lead our lives to live in His attributes: His Promised Land to us.